QUAIL. PARTRIDGE. 235 



liar hvitteriug note which is quite noticeable when they are together. In Pennsylvania, 

 I have driven a bevy some distance in the same manner; this was, however, when tlicy 

 were not fully grown but a pair whicli lived near my place during an entire season, an! 

 whicli T used to see nearly every day, would allow me to follow them for some hundred 

 yards along a lane, finally taking refuge in a stone wall or thicket. Although seemingly 

 loath to rise, when once on the wing. Quails are, as every sportsman knows, swift fliers and 

 he who can shoot one out of a bevy and, turning, drop another which rose at the same time 

 but which flew in exactly the opposite direction from the first, performs a feat which is not 

 easily accomplished. 



Tlie Quails of Florida are fond of the open piney woods but I have seen them in hum- 

 mocks, and have even met with them feeding in the swamps along the margin of streams. 

 In the more settled districts, they resort to the plantations, especially in Georgia and the 

 Carolinas. In Pennsylvania, they prefer old stubble fields, especially in autumn. At this 

 season and during winter, they keep in bevies of from five to twenty or more, and wander 

 about the country, often moving miles in a single day without rising. When a bevy is 

 disturbed at such times and forced to rise, if it has not been raucli hunted, the birds will 

 all proceed together in a straight line until they have reached the nearest cover, when one 

 will alight, then another, until all are down. Then tliey will soon get together without 

 much calling, but if further pursued, they will scatter widely, when, after a time, they will 

 sound their note in order to ascertain the direction which their companions have taken. 



During the breeding season, the song of tlie male is heard most frequently; it usually 

 consists of two notes, sounding like bob-white, or, as some have it, more-wet, and when our 

 gamy friend reiterates this cry frequently, the farmers say, that it foretells rain; but should 

 the bird, influenced by some whim, add another syllable, as he sometimes does, he is un- 

 derstood to say no-more-wet, as a certain prognostication of fair weather. I think, how- 

 ever, that three syllables are almost always given but that the first is usually uttered so 

 low as not to be audible a short distance away. 



The nest is, as a rule, placed in some thicket or on its border and is well-covered; so 

 well, in fact, that it is often impossible to find it without starting the bird. Thus I once 

 saw one that was not only completely hidden under grass and weeds but which had a cov- 

 ered passage-way that extended for twelve or fifteen inches before emerging. 



The young follow their parents as soon as hatched and behave much like the little 

 Grouse, but unlike these birds, do not wander much, contenting themselves with remaining 

 in a very limited area until fully grown. Like the Ruffed Grouse, Quails are liable to he 

 killed during certain winters in the North, by the crusting of the snow under which they 

 take refuge. 



